This copy is for your personal non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies of Toronto Star content for distribution to colleagues, clients or customers, or inquire about permissions/licensing, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com

The Toronto District School Board has proposed a tighter expense policy for trustees that calls for more documentation — names of guests with restaurant bills, maps attached to mileage chits — and clearer rules about what is permitted, after an internal audit found some trustees charging for questionable expenses, from luxury hotel rooms to alcohol.

An internal audit found numerous examples in which trustees were reimbursed for expenses that were unauthorized, including conference costs nearly a week after the end of a three-day conference and $3,500 in roaming charges over four years to and from the Virgin Islands, Cuba, Greece and Mexico.

Accountants Ernst & Young recommended last December that the school board conduct an audit of trustee expenses after finding irregularities during a broader board audit for the ministry of education.

The new policy, which requires far more details on expense forms submitted by trustees — and in some cases, requires forms for the first time — to bring the board’s practices in line with that of the broader public sector.

“I am so glad we now have clear guidelines — some aspects of our expenditures before were like a black hole, with some trustees knowing what was allowed and others not — it was unfair,” said trustee Pamela Gough.

Article Continued Below

Trustees referred back to committee a section that deals with trustees’ contracts with their constituency assistants for clarification.

The audit examined spending over the past four years by the board’s 22 trustees and found too much room for interpretation and inconsistency.

Toronto public trustees have annual expense accounts of $27,000, with extra money available through a fund for non-ward business such as professional development.

Trustees also voted to ask the dean of the University of Toronto's faculty of education for assurances that plans to cancel an “inner-city” optional course that has been run out of one of the board's schools will still allow the teachers’ college to prepare graduates to teach the more vulnerable students in Toronto’s inner-city neighbourhoods.

However trustees voted against asking staff try to investigate the validity of allegations that the Confucius Institute, a cultural learning organization with which the board is building a partnership, limits free discussion about China because of control by the Chinese government.

Concerns raised by groups such as the Canadian Association of University Teachers has led to the closing of at least one Confucius Institute at a Canadian university.

However trustee Shaun Chen argued it’s not reasonable to ask staff to try to determine the validity of such concerns.

“I believe our staff has the common sense to ensure free-thinking values are instilled in our education system,” Chen said.

Trustees did not hold a public discussion of allegations of financial misconduct about chair Chris Bolton 15 years ago when he was principal of Ryerson Public School.

The board conducted an investigation at the time that, among other allegations, Bolton directed donations — including a $50,000 gift from the Atkinson Charitable Foundation — to a charity with which Bolton had close ties.

The investigation apparently found no proof of wrong-doing, although some trustees criticized chair Sheila Ward for not making the report public. She was chair in 2005 when the investigation began.

Delivered dailyThe Morning Headlines Newsletter

The Toronto Star and thestar.com, each property of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, One Yonge Street, 4th Floor, Toronto, ON, M5E 1E6. You can unsubscribe at any time. Please contact us or see our privacy policy for more information.

More from the Toronto Star & Partners

LOADING

Copyright owned or licensed by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or distribution of this content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited and/or its licensors. To order copies of Toronto Star articles, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com